Does anybody know anything about the Litspeed L-Series bikes? There’s no mention whatsoever about why anybody would buy one of these bikes when the C-Series is available. The Litespeed website doesn’t seem to even claim they’re lighter, or more comfortable, or anything.
Without getting into too much trouble with the marketing Dept (or the guys who don’t like vendors to chime in) I’ll try to explain what the L-Series is all about.
First, know that I’ve not yet had the opportunity to ride the bike since the first production frames are still being tested down at Litespeed. I’ve seen, handled and assembled the production prototypes and they are pretty sweet.
The L-Series frame is at its base a non-aero racing frame. As a result we were able to do some things with it that a focus on Aerodynamics would not allow. Probably most obvious is the BB. We have gone to a BB386 arrangement which is basically a Pressfit Wide spindle BB30 with no change in Q-factor. Wider BB produces more stiffness than a traditional BB30 and is adaptable to every crankset except a pure BB30 crank because the spindle is too short.
Downtube arrangement borrows form the CD0.1 and is offset to the driveside to aid in drive train efficiency along with asymetric chainstays. The Headtube is convex (not concave like on the C-series) to add more stiffness to the front end.
Geometry is slightly different with lengthened chainstays and a ever so slightly taller stack to smooth out the ride of the L-series.
And finally weight, I’m told that the goal is a frame weight around 200g lighter than the comparable C-series with an aim toward 900g. Pre-prduction prototypes were quite a bit lighter than that, but the layups were still being finalized.
In short, for those that like marketing snips, the L-series is a significantly lighter, stiffer, smoother riding, bursting with cutting edge innovation frame for the racer and racing enthusiast. Plus they look cool and i’m pretty sure my large will weigh in the neighborhood of 12-13lbs.
Cheers
Peter
Thanks for the info!